THE MASTER WITH HIS WORK

History hinges on a single pivotal event: the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. There, God’s great redemption of mankind was accomplished—a rescue mission that culminated at the end of Christ’s three-and-a-half-year public ministry but began before the world was formed.This incredible tapestry is woven throughout the Scriptures in red.The great Bible teacher of yesteryear, William Evans, noted, “Cut the Bible anywhere and it bleeds.” The blood of Jesus stains every page, every book, in both testaments. Evans observed that “the atonement is the scarlet cord running through every page in the entire Bible”; it “is red with redemption truth.” He’s the hero of the story because His sacrifice on the cross provided salvation for mankind. The “scarlet thread” of redemption is interwoven through the entire story and can be seen in the many accounts of biblical history that tell His story.It weaves together the hides of the animals slaughtered in the Garden of Eden to provide garments for Adam and Eve.It snares the ram provided in Isaac’s place on Mount Moriah.It stains the doorposts in Egypt and trickles down the altar in the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem.That blood-red cord binds the Old Testament to John the Baptist's introduction of Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” and to the beams of a Roman cross at Golgotha, where Jesus declared, “It is finished!”Though Jesus had a miraculous birth, though He performed many nature-defying wonders, and though He taught the most sublime truths ever proclaimed, none of these provide salvation, and none are the focal point of His ministry.The epicenter of all history, especially redemptive history, is the cross. Bethlehem’s baby was born to die! He made the plan to save the world. CROSSWALKTEXT: LUKE 2:25-35SONGS: JOYFUL JOYFUL, JOY TO THE WORLD, PHIL WICKHAMHOW GREAT IS OUR GOD, CHRIS TOMLINAWAY IN A MANGER, PHIL WICKHAMWHAT A BEAUTIFUL NAME, MARYANNE GEORGE